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Wicked Courage started his career with a dubious beginning

By Mike Curran

mcurran@ruidosonews.com

Posted:
07/25/2013 03:57:08 PM MDT

People within the horse-racing community are well aware the three-year-old gelding, Wicked Courage, has won nine straight races without a defeat, including this year's Ruidoso Derby and Rainbow Derby. He is, without question, one of the brightest quarter horse racing stars on any track today. But what many do not know about was his dubious beginning. It makes his story that much more fascinating. It's also the story of a trainer who never lost faith in the potential championship ability of his charge, nearly from the outset. The two, true narratives synchronize perfectly to form the sort of stuff dreams are made of and then played out in reality before our very eyes.

Wicked Courage was purchased for $4,000 as a yearling, by Andrew Smith of Ardmore Oklahoma, on Sept. 22, 2011, at the Heritage Sale at Remington Park. Smith also bought two other horses at the sale and then was looking for a trainer. That's when he met Luis Villafrano, showed him the three horses he had purchased, and asked the horse conditioner if he would like to train them.

By then, Villafranco had the credentials as a leading trainer and was proven to be tough in Oklahoma. He had run third in the Heritage Futurity in 2007; had run first, second and third in the Remington Park Futurity (a $750,000 race) in '07 and had won the Invitational Championship at Zia, also that same year. He was also the leading trainer at Remington Park that year as well as leading trainer at Will Rogers Downs (Okla.) in 2012.

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Villafranco has usually been in the top three of quarter horse trainers at those places since 1992 when he left Rodney Reed as an assistant trainer, whom he had been with for 13 years.

Villafranco accepted Smith's offer and took the three horses back to his ranch in Wapanucka, Okla., to begin training them. But first he had to break them, and that's where this story gets interesting. About three weeks after bringing the potential racers back to his training facility, the trainer received a call from Smith.

"How are my horses doing?" Smith asked.

"Well, two of them are breaking out good but we've been having some trouble with Wicked Courage," Villafranco replied.

"What kind of trouble?" Smith queried.

"Well, we may have to send him to a rodeo because he's bucked off three riders and the first rider he bucked off three times," the trainer answered.

Villafranco did not give up on the future star, though. The next time out, the trainer climbed on his pony, attached a big rope that led from his saddle horn to Wicked Courage (with a rider aboard) and kept him close and his head up.

"After about two weeks we finally broke him," Villafranco said. "At that time I knew he would be a runner. Sometimes, good runners are tough to break."

A few others were not so sure the horse was where it should be, though.

Jockey G.R. Carter worked Wicked Courage the first time out of a gate. Afterwards, Carter said to Villafranco, "This horse can fly but he may need to be gelded." And so it was.

Next up, Villafranco moved the horse to Remington Park for schooling races where he ran third. Subsequently, the jockey aboard him said, "He's not ready, he needs more breaking."

Villafranco was not convinced, however, and ran him in the Oklahoma-Bred Futurity, March 3, 2012. Wicked Courage came in third. The trainer gave him a week off and shipped him to Ruidoso Downs. With Salvador Martinez aboard, the Villafranco-trained racer came in second, out of the No. 9 hole, in his trial to the Ruidoso Futurity.

Next, Villafranco ran his horse in the Rainbow Futurity trials.

"He came out of the No. 4 hole, went to his knees, recovered, and ran second in his trial," the trainer recounted. "He came back for the All American Futurity trials but I think he was a bit off. He ran in the trials but that particular day heavy rain clouds appeared. Wicked had never run in the rain before. He broke good out of the No. 2 hole but ran side-to-side and finished fifth - the only time he has ever run fifth."

Villafranco kept the faith and took the horse back to Oklahoma for the 2012, 350-yard Black Gold Futurity trials at Will Rogers Downs. With Cody Jensen aboard, Wicked Courage came out of the No. 3 hole and won his trial by two-and-a-half lengths for his first-ever win and recorded the fourth-fastest overall time. Two weeks later, in the $100,000 final, again, with Jensen on top, Wicked came out of the No. 8 hole.

"He broke slow but won by one-and-a-half lengths for his second win," Villafranco said.

Three weeks later, with Jensen aboard, Wicked Courage came out of the No. 8 hole in the 400-yard Black Gold Championship and qualified with the fastest overall time for his third win with a 103 speed index. Subsequently, two weeks later, Wicked raced out of the unpopular No. 1 hole with Jensen on top.

"My horse was ready in the gate but the No. 8-hole horse flipped and all of them had to be reloaded," Villafranco said. "Wicked Courage looked flat and broke last but then he caught the entire field an won by three lengths.

"This horse is a big runner," Jensen said after the $500,000 race.

That was Nov. 12, and the last race for the budding star for that year. He had won four in a row and was just about to shortly show his real mettle in 2013.

In March of this year, Wicked Courage won the Bob Moore $50,000 300-yard Handicap for his fifth win. He came out of the No. 3 hole and won by a nose.

Villafranco then brought him back to Ruidoso Downs. In the Ruidoso Derby trials, the trainer's horse won his sixth straight win in a strong headwind, recording the 10th-fastest time. He then won the Ruidoso Derby final from the No. 8 hole for his seventh consecutive victory. Wicked picked up his eighth straight win in the Rainbow Derby trials and his ninth win in the Rainbow Derby final.

You may call Wicked Courage a late bloomer but others choose to call him the three-year-old horse to beat. To look at him in his stall you wonder why he was named Wicked Courage - until that is you see him obliterate competition on the racecourse. Then you know the name fits. Wicked has a fierce heart and he lets his actions on the racetrack speak to his abilities. The same goes for Villafranco. He's congenial, friendly and smiles a lot on off-days at the track. But you get the feeling he's a relentless competitor in the heat of battle.

Quite some time ago, before Wicked Courage started his big win streak, Villafranco told the horse's owner that the racer would one day win $1 million. The owner wasn't quite sure at that time. He recently told the faithful trainer, "You were right." Is there now any doubt?

To date, Wicked Courage has won $1,040,000. For now, Wicked Courage will rest up for the $3 million All American Derby on Labor Day weekend. Will it be his 10th straight win?

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